AP Test ReviewTopics we may have missed…

2012The AP Environmental Science Exam covers a one-

semester introductory college course in environmental science with laboratory. The questions included in Section I are designed to cover the breadth of students' knowledge and understanding of environmental science. There are four questions in Section II. One is a data-set question, which requires students to analyze and interpret a given set of data. One is a document-based question in which students answer questions related to a given document (such as a pamphlet, advertisement, or newspaper article) and apply their knowledge of environmental science to contexts that are current, relevant, and authentic. Two are synthesis questions, which are in-depth, often multi-part essays.

College Board -- AP multiple choice sample

College Board – AP short answer questions (2010 & 2011)

Practice AP Test

All answers

AP Pass

http://appass.com/calculators/environmentalscience

Exam Scores

https://apstudent.collegeboard.org/exploreap/the-rewards/exam-scores

Multiple choice Scores

http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/courses/212187.html

Does your college accept AP credits?

http://collegesearch.collegeboard.com/apcreditpolicy/appolicy.jsp?match=true&collegeId=1225&searchType=APCredit&type=qfs&word=east%20stroudsburg(best to contact your college directly)

4/30 ATB

This type of water pollution causes pipes to be encrusted and decreases the effectiveness of soap.

A) Minimata disease

B) Eutrophication

C) Fecal coliforms

D) Sediment

E) Calcium ions

Today:Go over the AP practice testLook at the short answers

5/1 ATB

Which of the following factors accompanies urbanization?A) increased price of property in rural areasB) increased standard of living in rural areasC) increased specialization of jobs in urban areasD) Decreased crime in urban areasE) Decreased amount of energy used per capita

Don’t forget – meeting at DeRenzis ThursdayAfter we talk, some are going to Kettle Creek to

“preview” some of the areas.

Fish and Game commission guy?

Non-APers Turn in 10 article questions

Peak oil

Acid DrainageOr Acid Mine Drainage

As water fills up an old mine (or runs over newly exposed rock) and reacts with oxygen and sulfide minerals, sulfuric acid is produced.

This acidic water then also leaches metals from rocks it flows over, adding to the pollution (in high concentrations = organism death)

Pyrite is a common example – (iron sulfide)

5/2 ATB

Which pair of phrases best describes the effect that O3 molecules have on the environment?A) greenhouse effect; lung tissue irritantB) Ozone depletion; greenhouse effectC) Blocks UV rays; lung tissue irritantD) Ozone depletion; carcinogenE) Greenhouse effect; causes nerve damage

Today:Finish review for AP testDon’t forget Meeting afterschool in DeRenzis’ roomFriday: Envirothon

Need Photo Release Form and Field Trip Permission Form Dress for the weather No cell phones are allowed while you are taking the test Lunch is provided Bus is probably going to leave from the fitness center

Catalytic converterFilters air pollutants from vehicle exhaustHelps to improve air quality

The catalytic converter: green technology

Even a banana split has ties to the environment

Population Doubling Time Estimate

Rule of thumb…

Book says: take 70 and divide by annual growth rate to estimate how long it will double.

Practice AP test says: take 72 and divide by annual growth rate(Doubling x percent growth = 72)(Doubling = 72 / percent growth)

Population Doubling Time Estimate

A population is increasing at 1.8% per year. How long will it take the population to quadruple?A) About 39 yearsB) About 78 yearsC) About 45 yearsD) About 30 years

Environmental DisastersBhopal, India (December 2-3, 1984)

Gas leak from the industrial pesticide plant run by Union Carbide India Limited

Considered one of the worlds worst industrial accidentsOver 500,000’s of people exposed to chemicals that lived

in the shanty towns surrounding the plant (methyl isocyanate)

Death toll: 3,787 (estimates go up to 8,000)

Minamata, Japan (1956)Minamata Disease -- Severe mercury poisoning Caused by the release of methylmercury in the

industrial wastewater from the Chisso Corporation’s chemical factory

It bioaccumulated in shellfish / fishDeath toll: 1,784 died and over 10,000 received

compensation from Chisso Corporation

Love Canal, NY (1976)Niagara Falls, NYThe canal was built to connect Niagara River to Lake

Ontario – never completedSite began being used to dump waste by Hooker Chemical

(21,000 tons of toxic waste)Site was sold in 1953 and houses were built ---- pollutants

started leaking from the site into backyards, pools, etc.Miscarriages, birth defects resultedNow a superfund site – federal law to clean up sites

contaminated with hazardous substances

Three Mile Island, PA (March 28, 1979)Partial meltdown of a nuclear reactorsThrough the 5 day ordeal there were major

concerns the plant may explode140,000 pregnant women / children evacuatedNo cited major release of nuclear material (small

amounts released) Illustrated need for closer monitoring of plants

Chernobyl, Ukraine (April 26, 1986)Was in Soviet UnionWorst nuclear event in history (tied at a level 7 event with

FukushimaAbout 340,000 people evacuated and resettledMeltdown and explosion of a nuclear power plant –

massive amounts of radioactive materials released into the atmosphere

68 direct deaths from radiation Increased cancer rates

Fukushima, Japan – March 11, 2011Tsunami struck Japan (9.0 magnitude)Power and cooling triggering a nuclear meltdownAll three cores melted downLarge amounts of radioactive materials released

(most into ocean)100,000 people evacuated (no major sicknesses /

death reported)Level 7 nuclear event (highest event)

Exxon Valdez (1989)Ran aground in Prince Williams Sound, AlaskaSpilled 100,000’s barrels of oil (10+ million gals)2nd largest oil spill in US history

Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill (July 15, 2010)Largest oil spill in US history

(2nd largest in world)Occurred in Gulf of Mexico Operated by BP - $4.525 billion fineOil flowed for 87 days (4.9 million barrels or 210 million

gals)11 died

Oil slick from space (NASA)

DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) Colorless, tasteless Used primarily as an insecticide after WWII (1948ish) Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring “questioned the logic of releasing large

amounts of chemicals into the environment without fully understanding their effects on ecology or human health”Book started the modern environmental movementGet it? Silent spring?

Fat soluble so it easily bioaccumulates in organisms Birds especially affected, causing thinning of shells resulting in

population declines (especially predatory birds) Toxic at certain levels to many organisms Banned in US agriculture in 1982. Banned worldwide in the Stockholm

Convention (2004)

Solar output and ocean absorption influence climate

Solar output = drives temperature change on Earth’s surfaceThe Sun varies in the radiation it emitsVariation in solar energy (i.e., solar flares) has not

been great enough to change Earth’s temperature

Ocean absorption = the ocean holds 50 times more carbon than the atmosphere and absorbs it from the atmosphereCarbon absorption by the oceans is slowing global

warming but not preventing itWarmer oceans absorb less CO2 because gases are

less soluble in warmer water – a positive feedback effect that accelerates warming

Ocean circulation and ENSO influence climate

Ocean circulation = ocean water exchanges tremendous amounts of heat with the atmosphere, and ocean currents move energy from place to place

El Niño-southern oscillation (ENSO) = a systematic shift in atmospheric pressure, sea surface temperature, and ocean circulation in the tropical Pacific

El NiñoNormally, winds blow from east to west along the equator, from high to low pressure

Westward-moving surface waters allow nutrient-rich upwelling along the coast of Peru

ENSO occurs when air pressure increases in the western Pacific and decreases in the eastern Pacific, causing the equatorial winds to weaken

Water flows eastward, suppressing upwellings, shutting down delivery of nutrients that support aquatic life

Coastal industries are devastated, global weather is changed

La Niña eventsThe opposite of El Niño events

Cold surface waters extend far westward in the equatorial Pacific and weather patterns are affected in opposite ways

ENSO cycles are periodic, occurring every 2-8 yearsGlobally warming air and sea temperatures may be

increasing their frequency and strength

Thermohaline circulationThermohaline circulation = a worldwide

current system in which warmer, fresher water moves along the surface; and colder, saltier water moves deep beneath the surfaceWarm surface water carries heat to Europe

North American Deep Water (NADW) = the deep portion of the thermohaline circulation, consisting of dense, cool water that sinks

Interrupting the thermohaline circulation could trigger rapid climate change

NADW is vulnerableIf Greenland’s ice melts, freshwater runoff would

dilute ocean waters, making them less dense, and stopping NADWSome data suggest thermohaline circulation is

slowing

Europe would rapidly cool, as shown in The Day After Tomorrow, a movie which exaggerated the impacts

CITESConvention on International Trade in

Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)Multilateral treaty (1975)“Its aim is to ensure that international trade in

specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten the survival of the species in the wild, and it accords varying degrees of protection to more than 34,000 species of animals and plants”

Laws and ActsEndangered Species Act (ESA)

Signed into law by Nixon in 1973“Designed to protect critically imperiled species from

extinction as a consequence from of economic growth and development untempered by adequate concern and conservation”

Administered by US Fish and Wildlife Service and National Oceanic and Atmosphereic Administration (NOAA)

Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA)Federal law (1977) that regulates the environmental

effects of coal mining in the USTwo programs:

One for regulating active coal minesOne to reclaim abandoned mine lands

Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) Passed in 1938 giving the US Food and Drug Administration authority

to oversee food, drug and cosmetic safety

Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) - 1980 Known as the superfund Designed to clean up all sites contaminated with hazardous

substances that are endangering public health and / or the environment

Allows EPA to identify responsible parties and compel them to clean up the site.

National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Signed into law by Nixon in 1970 “the law was established to foster and promote the general welfare, to

create and maintain conditions under which man and nature can exist in productive harmony, and fulfill the social, economic, and other requirements of present and future generations of Americans.”

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)1976 – Federal Law that governs the disposal of

solid and hazardous wasted“Gives the EPA the authority to control hazardous

waste from the cradle-to-grave.” This includes transportation, storage, disposal

Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA)“law that set up the basic US system of pesticide

regulation to protect applicators, consumers and the environment.”

Administered by the EPA

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)Part of the US Department of LaborMission is to “assure safe and healthful working

conditions for working men and women by setting and enforcing standards and by providing training, outreach, education and assistance”.

Enforces whistleblower statues and regulations

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)Part of the US Dept. of Homeland SecurityMain role is to coordinate response to disasters

that occur in the US (ones that states cannot handle, and they declare a state of emergency)

States must request the help of FEMA

Agreements / ConferencesKyoto Protocol

…to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

Treaty that sets obligations on industrialized nations to reduce emissions of greenhouse gasses

“The UNFCCC is an environmental treaty with the goal of preventing "dangerous" anthropogenic (i.e., human-induced) interference of the climate system.”

Ontario AgreementThe Canada-Ontario Agreement Respecting the

Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem is the federal-provincial agreement that supports the restoration and protection of the Great Lakes basin ecosystem. The Agreement outlines how the governments of Canada and Ontario will cooperate and coordinate their efforts to restore, protect and conserve the Great Lakes basin ecosystem

Environmental mitigation –Terms used to “describe projects or programs

intended to offset known impacts to an existing historic or natural resource such as a stream, wetland, endangered species, archeological site or historic structure. To "mitigate" means to make less harsh or hostile.”

Environmental crediting / debit system: you get a credit when you improve / preserve a resource and you get a debit when you damage one

Buy credits to offset damage a building project may generate

Brownfield – area of dubious toxicity (high liability to future

owners)

From wikipedia…

Energy Sources

Fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas)

Nuclear

Hydroelectric

Wind

Solar

Geothermal

Wave

Tidal

Biomass / biofuels

The End

Montrose Chemical Superfund